Leinster senior coach Jacques Nienaber does not subscribe to the adage that ‘defence wins titles’, stating he is more concerned about the points scored column.
Nienaber has earned widespread praise for his defensive expertise with his system guiding the Springboks to back-to-back Rugby World Cup titles and a British & Irish Lions series victory.
While there was a bit of a bedding-in period when he linked up with Leinster after the 2023 Rugby World Cup, the Irish club are well and truly firing under his tutelage.
Leinster hammered Harlequins and Glasgow Warriors in their most recent Investec Champions Cup knockout games racking up 62 and 52 points respectively with Nienaber again hailed as the Irish side did not concede a single point over the 160 minutes.
“I’m more happy about the points scored”
While most defence coaches would be smitten about their system nilling their opponents in consecutive matches, Nienaber is pleased by Leinster’s 18 tries and 114 points instead.
“I’m more happy about the points scored than the points conceded,” he told the media ahead of Leinster’s United Rugby Championship clash with Ulster this weekend.
“You can’t win games with not conceding, you must win games by scoring. People always make a comment, they say ‘defence wins titles’, but you can’t win a title on defence.
“If you can’t score points, you’ll never win a game. You’ll only at best have a draw. So attack wins games, not defence.
“Defence can lose games. If you put a score on the scoreboard, your defence must be good enough to try and combat, and defend that score.
“Defence can’t win you games, it can lose you games.”
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Rugby World Cup blip
While Leinster fans will be happy with the final score of the last two matches, Nienaber admits that the scoreboard is something that he rarely keeps track of during the match.
Even when it comes to a Rugby World Cup final as he revealed that in 2019 he did not know the scoreline when Rassie Erasmus wanted to make the final changes from the bench.
“I don’t even know what the score is to be honest,” he said.
“Somebody asked me just now, I swear, I don’t even know what the score is, to be honest.
“You’ll check it, but you kind of go from play-to-play thinking, from my view, what tactically they’re trying to do. What have they done in the past? You think like that. I don’t actually even know what the score is
“In the World Cup final in 2019, I remember I was running the touch as a physio. Rassie said he wants to put on our last sub, so I said ‘hang on, what’s the score, isn’t it risky?’ I think he gave him nine minutes and they said ‘no, the score is like 25-12’ [I said] ‘okay, no it’s fine!’
“I literally don’t know. Some people are different, but I literally just think of what is happening next. I don’t know if players think about it, I don’t think so. I don’t think they know what the score is.”
Src: Planetrugby.com - https://www.planetrugby.com/news/jacques-nienaber-rubbishes-defence-wins-titles-adage-as-ex-springboks-coach-reveals-world-cup-final-blip
